LAKEWOOD — A teenager was arrested and charged Tuesday night with bias crimes after he was reported luring or harassing females on the street, police said.

Police say the teenager intended to touch and knock down a woman from the Orthodox Jewish community as part of an MS-13 gang initiation.

Rafael Laurano-Flores, 18, was charged with obstruction, resisting arrest, three counts of bias intimidation and three counts of bias harassment, said Sgt. Greg Staffordsmith.

Police were called initially at 7:30 p.m. to the area of 5th Street and Princeton Avenue about an attempted abduction of a 16-year-old girl, Staffordsmith said. However, when police arrived at the intersection they were unable to locate the caller or the victim.

While they were searching, police dispatchers received a second call – this one from just blocks away, in the area of Princeton Avenue and 9th Street, about a man who was attempting to lure or follow a mother and her 16-year-old daughter, Staffordsmith said.

At the same time, members of the Lakewood Community Safety Watch were following a black 2001 BMW SUV that they believed suspicious, police said.

Officers pulled the car over in the area of Clifton Avenue and 9th Street. During the stop, Laurano-Flores became violent toward the officers – and he was placed under arrest.

Detectives from the Street Crimes Unit were later able to locate the victims, police said. The investigation revealed that the 18-year-old man was attempting to join the MS-13 gang, and the attempt to knock over a female was one of the initiation rites, Staffordsmith said.

Laurano-Flores’s bail was set at $18,000 with no 10-percent cash option. As of midnight, he was awaiting transport to the Ocean County Jail.